Rudolf Steiner's Vision for the Future - Anthroposophical Society in ...

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From Creature to Creator: The Human Being and Our Future Evolution chooses and acknowledges. Then he can say: “Now I know why I am working with other people.” In this way there arise out of human consciousness those social groups in which material is created for the spirits of the age, the Spirits of Personality. And the anthroposophical society is a group of this kind in which this connection is created on a basis of brotherhood. This means nothing else than that each individual is active in the group in such a way that he acquires in himself all the good qualities that make him an image of the whole society. Thus all the thoughts, wealth of feeling and virtues he develops through the society he bestows as nourishment upon the Spirits of Personality. Hence in a society like this all that creates communal life is inseparable from the principle of individuality. Each single member becomes capable through such a society of offering what she herself produces as a sacrifice to the Spirits of Personality. And each individual prepares herself to reach the level of those who are the most advanced, and who, as the result of spiritual training have progressed to the point where they have the following ideal: “When I think, I do not do so for my own satisfaction, but in order to create nourishment for the Spirits of Personality. I lay upon the altar of the Spirits of Personality my highest and most beautiful thoughts; and what I feel is not prompted by egoism, I feel it because it is to be nourishment for the Spirits of Personality. And what I can practice in the way of virtue, I do not practice for the sake of gaining influence for myself, but in order to bring it as a sacrifice to provide food for the Spirits of Personality.” Here we have placed before us as our ideal those whom we call the masters of wisdom and the masters of harmony and feeling. For thus do they think and prepare for the development which will bring the human being nearer and nearer to the point where we will always be creating what is new until we will finally develop a world from which the workings of the old causes will have disappeared, and out of which new light will stream forth into the future. The world is not subject to perpetual metamorphosis into different forms, but the old is perfected and becomes the vehicle of the new. Then even this will be thrown off and will disappear into nothingness, so that out of this nothingness something new 78 • being human may arise. This is the tremendous idea of progress, that new things can perpetually arise. But the worlds are complete in themselves, and you will have seen in the example given that we cannot speak of anything actually coming to an end. It has been shown how on the one hand the Spirits of Personality lose their influence over the human being, but on the other hand how they again pursue their own evolution. Thus ours is a world that is constantly being rejuvenated by new creations, yet it is also true that what is stripped off would hinder progress, and it is passed on so that others for their part can progress. Nobody should believe that he must allow something to sink into nothingness, for we have been given the possibility of creating out of nothingness. What on Vulcan will prove itself to be something new, will continually build new forms and discard the old, and what is thrown off will seek its own path. Evolution, involution and creation out of nothingness are the three concepts we have to apply in order to understand the evolution of world phenomena as it really is. Only by this means shall we arrive at accurate concepts that both enlighten the human being about the world and engender in us inner warmth of feeling. If we had to admit our incapacity to do anything except create in accordance with impulses implanted into us, this would not steel our will nor kindle our hopes to the same extent as being able to say: “I can create my own life values and constantly add something new to what has been given me as a foundation. My ancient heritage will in no way hinder me from creating new blossoms and fruits which will live on into the future.” This, however, is part of what we can describe by saying that the anthroposophical conception of the world gives the human being strength, hope and confidence in life, for it shows us that we can, in the future, have a share in working at creations which, today, not only lie in the womb of causality but in nothingness. It shows us the prospect that, through our own efforts, we are working our way in the true sense of the word from being a ‘creature’ to being a ‘creator.’
News & Events The Vision of Rudolf Steiner: 150th Anniversary Conference: Save the Date! The General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America, in collaboration with the Portland Branch, warmly invites you to join us this fall in Portland, Oregon, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s birth. A very special conference is planned for this important milestone from October 14-16, 2011. We are delighted to announce that our keynote speaker will be Virginia Sease who, stating that she wouldn’t miss it, will be coming to the U.S. especially for this occasion. Additional speakers include U.S. General Secretaries, MariJo Rogers and Torin Finser. Artistic undertakings, workshops, exhibits, celebratory activities and good food will all contribute to this observance. We would like to hear from those of you who are working/doing research/art based on Steiner’s indications, hoping that you would be willing to share what you are doing in some form. One of our goals is to make visible the work of anthroposophy in the world today. We are also hoping that each attendee will bring or send some expression of what anthroposophy has meant in his or her life, to be displayed and shared. This could be done through an artistic or verbal medium. The conference is followed on Sunday by the Annual General Meeting of the Society. Fliers and registration materials will be available this spring. For more information, contact the Society office: phone 734.662.9355. Or email information@anthroposophy.org. Class Members Conference at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks (Sacramento), CA Save the dates: August 7–12, 2011 Rudolf Steiner: His Smile and the Four Seasons of His Life Many years ago in our community we had a tradition of reviewing one year in the life of Steiner at each birthday. Somehow it got forgotten as the community became more and more involved in various initiatives. Perhaps it should be taken up again, or some new tradition developed. In this article I wish to remember him in two ways: First, by this fascinating quote of Boris Bugayev (also known as Andrei Belyi) which he wrote in 1928 about Steiner: “He had, as it were, a therapeutic smile: the countenance blossomed… One felt that one had nothing of the kind to give in return. He had the gift of the smile, the faculty of direct expression from the heart… His smile could have had a smothering effect had he not tempered it down when necessary. Many know his sunny smile; we spoke of it. One must speak about it, for not a single photograph of his reflects it.” This latter sentence has bothered us anthroposophists ever since we realized this sad fact. An old anthroposophist told me that there was an esoteric reason for Steiner’s deliberate non-smiling poses, but I do feel that we have lost a wonderful aspect of him because we have never seen his smile. We have a faint glimmer of the angelic charm of his smile in this sole photograph from Steiner’s childhood, which was taken when he was about six. A second way I would like us to recall Steiner this year is with a fascinating new concept I just heard this year when I read Harry Salman’s book The Social World As Mystery Center: The Social Vision of Anthroposophy. Most of you have probably heard that Steiner’s adult life can be divided into three periods of seven years: the first seven (1902-1909) were devoted to activities involving thinking: outlining the philosophy of anthroposophy and the writing first issue 2011 • 79
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The Nature Institute: Growing Holis
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From the Editor There’s much more
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Contents FEATURES 6 Discovering a G
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Discovering a Genius: Rudolf Steine
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The “Class of 1861”: Rizal, Tag
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The Search for Humanity in Contempo
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